


Major, Brother, Father

by Mercenary



Category: Violet Evergarden (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Combat Stress, Dysfunctional Family, Gen, Healing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-31
Updated: 2018-03-31
Packaged: 2019-04-16 12:03:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14164446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mercenary/pseuds/Mercenary
Summary: Not all brothers were good brothers, especially not during war-time.  Major Gilbert Bougainvillea can only strive to make amends for his failings in regards to Violet.  It is time for them both to heal in different ways.





	Major, Brother, Father

**Author's Note:**

> I do feel that the complex relationship forged between Violet and Gilbert in canon can be interpreted in several ways. In ‘The Expression of Love’ it is explored as something intended to be romantic. 
> 
> In ‘Major, Brother, Father’ it will be explored through the lenses of a familial love. Where Gilbert fulfils the role of father, brother and mentor. Same spiel as all other stories: 
> 
> \- Written and posted with no effort put in.  
> \- These premises would be great to read (for me (hint))  
> -

In the end, they were both alive when dawn arrived. Huddled amongst rubble with makeshift field dressings keeping them alive. Only one working arm between them both had made it a hard endeavour.  Somehow, the gods were good, and the army medics even better. They were alive.

With his one good arm, he pressed it against her cheek. She had nothing left of her lower arms to hold.

“Take us together.” He ordered the medics, who were separating them onto stretchers. “Keep us together.” 

Any prospect of not being able to feel any sign of life from her was intolerable. As it were, one eye was likely beyond repair, the other he didn’t have any energy to force open. He was also groggy from the powerful pain relief they had pumped into his body. Stubbornness alone was keeping him conscious. 

Not even obstinacy could deflect the weight of his injuries and drugged state.

* * *

 

Gilbert woke up to the tired, pinched face of his older brother. Dietfried stood to the side, in a crumpled uniform, with his long dark hair spilling loosely over his broad shoulders. He looked down on Gilbert with regret and worry on his face.

“Violet? Where is she? Where is Violet?” Are the first words that Gilbert forces out, his mouth disgusting dry and fuzzy, but he ignored all else in favour of demanding an answer.  “Dietfried, tell me?”

Gilbert, of the famous Bougainvillea family, could tell immediately from the one eye he could see out from, that the room he was in was a private one.

Dietfried’s expression darkened at the mention of Violet.  Despite knowing of why, Gilbert didn’t care, all he wanted to know was where she was.

“New arms are being fitted before they bring her out of sedation,” His older brother says in a stilted, reluctant fashion. “Newest prosthetics that are available. Your  _next of kin_  approved of it on your behalf while you were sedated.” 

Dietfried was Gilbert’s next of kin as his older brother. That meant he had acted according to what he had known would be his wishes. Something that made him love his brother even more. Even if forgiveness or understanding seemed far from the older man’s mind when it came to Violet.

Like their father it had always been Diet who would hold a grudge. Bougainvillea men were tough, unforgiving and grew with the expectations of family and nation upon their shoulders. Not that the women who also served with distinction in the military were very different. 

“Tiffany and her husband have formally adopted her, as she has no official birth paperwork…” He began, drifting off when he found himself lost for explanation beneath Dietfried’s suddenly sharp gaze.

“Very well then. My only surprise is that you didn’t drop the Bougainvillea name on her as well,” Dietfried responded sharply, new lines creasing on his face. “I won’t be a  _brother_  to that girl. Not even for you, brother. Not that a cousin is any more agreeable for me to come to terms with.”

Gilbert didn’t need him to be a brother to her as well, and so he told Dietfried that.

He took the silence between them as an opportunity to gauge his physical state.  One eye was bandaged over, he knew it was permanently gone. Gilbert didn't even need to look to presume that one of his arms was no longer flesh and blood. It was sobering to realise he was no longer physically whole. 

"I thought I was going to die out there." Even as he confessed it, shame at the admission stirred within him. Their father would have denounced such talk for being that of a coward. "I was scared that Violet would die.  In a perverse way, given how poorly I protected her, I raised her. "

Had he not given her the name she wore? Proudly helped her learn to read, to speak, to calculate and write. Every achievement of normality over the years had filled him to the brim with pride. None of that could overwrite that he had used her on the battlefield. Gilbert would never forget nor forgive himself, even if he had done it for love of his country, and fear of letting the adolescent killer roam out of sight.

No, in the beginning, he had not understood how truly innocent she was. Violet was a victim of the actions of others that had robbed her of the necessary grounding of right and wrong. 

"She loves the first spring flowers, she never picks them so they don't wilt.  Dietfried, she is truly an innocent child. For my sake, show kindness to Violet,” Gilbert pleaded, despite the knowledge that he mayhap asked too much of his older brother, given the history between Violet and he. "She is truly a kind girl, despite everything stacked against her.  A victim of circumstance. "

Everything about Dietfried tensed, as he became Naval Captain Bougainvillea, with anger written into every angle of his face. He raised his fist as if he sought to strike Gilbert, only to drop it to his side with a drawn-out sigh. That furious energy of moments past draining out of him as quickly as it had risen to the surface.  

Dietfried chuckled harshly before answering. "Gil, you have never asked of me anything I have not been willing to give. You alone have given me your open support amongst the family when I pursued my own path. Only knowing that you were so gravely injured has made me fear anything more than that...that...girl."

_It truly was a struggle to not relent,_  Gilbert realised guiltily.  _Dietfried had always been an indulgent brother._ However, in his years with Violet, he had grown to be a selfish man in some ways. Which made him, tired, injured and pained as he was: understand that now was the time to have the long overdue confrontation.  Such disgust and hatred was unfairly being directed to Violet and he owed it to her to defend her.

"I love her from the very bottom of my heart, Dietfried," Gilbert Bougainvillea stated his feelings loudly and clearly. "She isn't a weapon. Not Violet. More than the Bougainvillea name, the legacy and the country... I want to protect her as a brother should have. I truly want to see her smile and live in peace."

"For you.” His brother said curtly. “I will try for you.”

 Gilbert smiled tiredly; body going lax against the mattress, spent from the energy demanded for that exchange. As he recuperated he now knew that Dietfried would see that Violet was taken care of. Because despite his grudges, his brother was a man who had never let him down. 

Violet would be in good hands.

 

 

 


End file.
